Delray Beach

so. we went on vacation. and i literally took a vacation from everything, including taking pictures! haha the two in this post are either stolen from robyn or taken on zach's phone. trust me, the scenery was beautiful and we had a great time! we went back to the same place we were this past august- delray beach. it's so nice to get to spend time with ty and rachel. especially now that ty is moving to san francisco in a couple weeks!

i was in Ohio all last week on a business trip, and i flew straight into West Palm Beach on Thursday and met up with Ty, Rachel, Eric and Adam. Eric is Ty's bestfriend, and Adam is Rachel's boyfriend. Zach drove down the next day, and two of Rachel's girlfriends flew in on Saturday. we did a lot of swimming, laying, floating, napping, playing, eating, reading, sipping mojitos... yup that pretty much sums up the vacation!

Guess who else was in florida?? Robyn and Alex were down visiting Robyn's parents in Ft. Lauderdale (about 30 min from us), so we drove down and went to church with them Sunday morning. You can't tell from this pic, but Robyn is super preggers, and we're so excited for our new niece this August!
we went deep sea fishing again and were even more unsuccessful than last time (3 fish from 5 fishers). ty was the only one who caught a "keepable" fish, and he only caught one! zach and i had planned on cooking fish that night for dinner, so once the boat docked, we went to the store and bought chicken. haha

it was a great break from the normal working and studying schedule, but now i'm back in the office and zach is pulling 10-hour study days. at least we have our tans to remind us that we had a restful and fun vacation! hope you had a restful holiday weekend!

1/2 Doctor

You must thing all we do it eat... seriously. (and that may be partially true) But I am taking a break from my usual cooking posts to brag on my husband! This past Sunday marked a huge accomplishment in Zach's medical career. I am so proud of him! Isn't he good looking?!A lot of medical schools give the students their white coats at the beginning of medical school, the University of Florida waits until half-way through. Zach and his classmates can really appreciate this now, and it really amps up their excitement about getting into the clinic!

The UF College of Medicine puts on this beautiful ceremony each year at the end of second year. Each student walked acrossed the stage and put on their white coat for the first time in front of their classmates, teachers, family and friends.

Zach asked me to help him put it on, and it was such a special experience! Have I mentioned how proud I am of him?????

Here they are... loyal study buddies and our future doctors! Here is Zach with his three closest friends- Brett, Tim and Justin. I've cooked many meals for these hardworking guys, and I'm so proud of each of them, too!

While we will have a deep and passionate love for our alma mater, Mississippi State, we are also very proud of the University of Florida now. Their program is recognized for the skilled doctors it produces.

Zach's parents drove down and spent the weekend with us. We love getting to see them, and their eyes filled with literal and figuative tears when Zach walked across that stage. Now on to studying for the boards... June 17th, here he comes!

My Favorite Things

Here I am again to tell you about the things I have been into lately.... these are good ones, trust me!

ALICE.COM

I have been doing a bit of my shopping on alice.com, and while I have not used the site to the fullest, I feel pretty good about it. **THE PICTURE ABOVE IS THE LINK TO THE SITE**It has pretty much every non-perishable thing you would find at a grocery store. And you know those extreme couponers who spend 50+ hours a week clipping and figuring out where they are going to store 128 bottles of ketchup... well, alice.com has coupons for most products, and it's as simple as clicking a little box to rack up on savings! Alice.com will keep your shopping list of the products you purchase, too. The only hang up is that you have to buy at least 6 items, but that's really not that hard! The prices are the best around, and when you add in the opportunity cost it saves you from driving around to 7 different stores to get the best price... priceless. Decent perks for first time users, so just give it a try! It's also awesome because I don't have to figure out how to carry up 12 bags of groceries plus 2 enormous packages of toilet paper and paper towels-- it just gets delivered to my doorstep =)

THE VOICE

Zach and I are one series finale away from finishing Lost, so good thing we've already found another show! The Voice. American Idol, who? Seriously- this show is awesome!

DIFFUSERS

I don't think I'll ever use candles again... diffusers are awesome! And they are pretty. Let's be honest. I live with a boy, and his boy friends come over. And sometimes boys just smell. So, I've tried a lot of different air fresheners like the spray kind, or the powder you vacuum up off the floor, candles, and the jars of some solid substance that mysteriously gets smaller and smaller. Well, nothing has worked better than a diffuser! (they are $3 off at alice.com right now, just saying...) I also have gotten some really pretty ones from TJ Maxx.

AVOCADOS

Avocados... mmmm.... why are you so expensive?? Seriously, they are usually $3 each at Publix and that is not in the budget. They were on sale last week (yippee), so I made the first batch of guacomole of the season. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! Maybe I'll post my recipe sometime in the near future- it is so good!

Cucumber Lemonade

So, back in Roswell, GA there was this amazing restaurant, Relish. I'm so sad and shocked to find out that it is now closed! Such fond memories... Summer Brunches with Grandmother Mary, New Years Eve with Mom, Tom, and Zach, Stasia's Bridal Lunch. Their menu featured savory southern recipes with a modern spin. I loved their cucumber lemonade served in mason jars! Well, I picked up a couple delicious cucumbers at the market, so I decided to make some cucumber lemonade. It's such a refreshing summer treat! Here's how it goes...

First, wash and cut up your cucumbers.
Place in blender (you'll want to split it up into a couple batches). I'm sure you could use a food processor, too. Just keep it going until you have cucumber mush. Place in a strainer over a bowl and let it sit for about 15 minutes. I used the back of a large spoon to squish out some more juice. turn the mush over and squish some more.

Isn't this a beautiful green color? I think it looks awesome! Note: I used two large cucumbers and got 1 1/3 cups of juice.

Use the ratio 2/3 cup cucumber juice : 1 1/2 cups lemonade. Garnish with cucumber and lemon slices.
If you want to go the extra mile, serve in mason jars =)

Confession: I used crystal light powdered lemonade mix. (I am hanging my head in shame) BUT it was still delcious! So, I imagine it only gets better using fresh lemons and real lemon juice!

Strawberry Pie

although I wasn't with any of my moms for Mother's Day, I was with a couple moms from church at our community group-- they loved this pie!

::ingredients::
2 lbs fresh strawberries (about 4 pints), plus 4 strawberries reserved
1.25 cups milk
3/4 cup sugar
5 TBS cornstarch
3 TBS freshly squeezed lemon (1 lemon)
2.5 cups graham-cracker crumbs
10 TBS unslated butter, melted
1 cup heavy cream
1 TBS confectioners' sugar

::directions::
1. Remove tops from strawberries. Place 2 lbs strawberries in blender and blend on high until pureed, about 10 seconds.
2. Combine milk, sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan and whisk until dissolved. Add the strawberry puree and lemon juice. Cook on high heat, whisking continually, until the mixture is think and bubbling. Remove from heat. You must whisk the entire time or else the milk will burn on the bottom of the pan, and you will see black stuff floating around... gross.
3. Place graham-cracker cumbs in a deep pit plate, drizzle with melted butter and mix until all crumbs are moistened. With the back of a spoon, press evenly into the bottom and sides of the pie plate to form crust.
4. Pour strawberry filling into crust and let cool completely (about 30 minutes). Cover and refrigerate over night.
5. Just before serving, place heavt cream in a mixing bowl and blend with electric mixer on high until stiff peaks form. Stir in confectioner's sugar.

6. Using a spatula, spread whipped cream over the filling. Slice reerved strawberries and garish top.

Printers Drawer Jewlery Display

On our honeymoon in Chattanooga, Zach and I found this printer's tray at an antique shop. I'm now kicking myself for now buying all the trays they had. I think it was only $15 or so. Anyhoo- here are the pics as promised...

I love it! I used to have all of my jewelry spread between 8,000 little jewlery boxes. I would open one up and just see a mound of necklaces. I was so overwhelmed, that I just wore my good ol' standby, pearl studs. This is my effort to actually wear the jewlery I own. So far, it's working! I've been pairing up cute earrings and necklaces with all of my outfits! Now that it's all laid out in front of me, I can see what I have to work with. Zach even picked out some earrings for me to wear the other night- how sweet!

Zach drilled a few holes, and I screwed in "mug hooks" to hang earrings in the little "boxes" and neckalces from the bottom.
It was ridiculously easy!
Have I mentioned that I love it.... =)

Pasta Carbonara

My June issue of Martha Stewart Living just arrived in the mail this morning... I can't wait to read up on some wonderful summer ideas! She always has yummy recipes for me to try and creative projects to work on! I made this a few weeks back, and it got rave reviews from the hubs. I was cleaning out my fridge and found a pound of bacon, so I googled... did you know that Martha Stewart has an entire archive of bacon recipes? Well, this is one of the ones I tired...

Pasta Carbonara

::Ingredients::

coarse salt and ground pepper
4 slices of bacon, sliced crosswide into 1/2 inch pieces
4 shallots, halved and thinly sliced (if you can't find shallots, use garlic and white onion)
1 box (10 oz) frozen peas, thawed
1 cup half and half
18 oz angel hair pasta

::Directions::

1. Set a large pot of salted water to boil.
2. In a skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp, about 5-7 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Leave fat in skillet. 3. With a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Leave fat in skillet.
4. Add shallots to skillet, season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften, 1-2 minutes. Add peas and half and half. Simmer until thickened, about 2 minutes. 5. Cook pasta until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water and drain. Return to pot. Pour suace over pasta, and toss to combine. Adding pasta water a little at a time to coat. Sprinkle with bacon and serve!

Crafty Weekend

What a fun, productive weekend! Zach and I went for an early morning bike ride downtown to grad breakfast. He found a restaurant, Bagels and Noodles. I admit, I was skeptical of the name, but it was delicious! I had the most amazing fresh strawberry cream cheese on my bagel- yummmm. Since the bagels were such a hit, we had to try the noodles. So, back we went after church. We ordered our usual (because we had to compare to our go-to noodle place, chopstix) Beef Pad Thai and Chicken Lo Mein. A-MAZ-ING! The real test is cold leftovers tomorrow morning, but I have a good feeling. It has a "hole in the wall" feel, and we love supporting a local restaurant.

Also, watch Food, Inc. Seriously. It will change your life.

So, Zach has been "in the zone" studying- headphones in, taping away on his computer... so a friend of mine, Kaitlyn, came over and we got crafty! I so enjoy her company, and we had a great time catching up on life and working on our project. This was my inspiration for our project. Mine is by the door for our keys, and Kaitlyn's is in her kitchen for her aprons. The mason jar will soon hold fresh blossoms =)

I went to Lowes and got a 1x8 board cut into 4 1 foot sections, 4 3" pipe clamps found in the plumbing aisle and 4 hooks-- total cost, $16. We already had jars, paint and brushes, so that part was free!

Zach drilled holes in our pipe clamps so we could hammer it into the board.
Our finished pieces! Yay!

I also re-purposed my printers tray that was once a decoration above my sewing machine into a jewelry display. Pics to come...